Rabbits Dance With Fireflies
by Aiko Isari
Summary: Wallace's Chocomon didn't hatch again after all, and Daisuke has no idea what to do except wing it and find the little guy. It's really not that easy, but nothing said he had to do it alone.
1. Chapter 1

_Warning for Door to Summer spoilers and eventual tooth rotting fluff. Also past character death._

* * *

I.

"You know, all things considered, this wasn't how I figured this whole thing was going to go down."

"You mean without nearly blowing up New York City and not traumatizing a small child?"

"I'm pretty sure we went past traumatizing _a_ small child, Daisuke."

"… Spoilsport."

"How you can confuse being a spoilsport with _not wanting to lose my head_ is beyond me."

"You need to have more faith, Wallace."

"With you, I need a miracle."

"That works too!"

* * *

Daisuke is not fond of failure. It's the main reason he gets relatively average grades rather than purely poor ones barring the classes that he likes. He doesn't like the way disappointment feels directed at anyone, let alone him, and he hates the way the consequences just ripple about like stones in the river when you throw them and they sink. At least average has hope. Besides, he doesn't do horribly.

 _The times you fail are the times you remember the most._ He remembers Taichi-senpai telling him this after finding him staring at the goal net, frustrated and with a nearly deflated ball rolling to one side again. He remembers the wistful look on his face. Three years later, he found out why. It's not a good feeling, and having your mouth taste like sandpaper and self-loathing isn't exactly healthy either. Hence why refusing to let Ken wallow in it is one of the best decisions he ever made.

Of course, thinking that way for too long did nobody any good. It's certainly never done him any good. So he doesn't worry too much a majority of the time. He thinks of ramen recipes and throws paper airplanes at Takeru's head in the library (once in a while, honest!)

Then, right after one of the most terrifying final exams of his life, he gets a message from Wallace.

He can only guess someone gave the blond guy his D-Terminal address (Koushiro probably) because he hadn't. Mimi-san gave them the update whenever she saw him anyway. So Daisuke has no idea where this thing came from or why him and particular but he figures when you armor evolve your Digimon together, something special has got to happen. Or maybe he was just easy to talk to. Everyone says that these days.

Daisuke, unfortunately having grown busier over the years, takes an extra half-an-hour to actually get to answer it (never mind that that half hour is dinner and cleaning Jun's conditioner off of Chibimon when it fell in the bath), but when he opens it, there's not much of a hello. No sorry to bother you that Ken tends to have, or even the 'how is everyone' of Hikari-chan when messages come through like this.

It's just a very simple: I miss Chocomon.

Unfortunately, either Wallace is trying to screw with him, or that is the only thing he can get out and say, but either way it keeps Daisuke staring up at the ceiling for a good few hours, thinking of Wallace with tears in his eyes, and his own face flooding with them. He thinks of a lot of snow and cold and the ringing of a too-small bell.

"Man," he says, at some time around eleven. "This sucks."

Chibimon makes a sound like he agrees, though Daisuke isn't sure if that's because he woke him up or because his partner actually agrees with him. It can go either way.

He tries to sleep that night, but the email haunts him even after he answered it. After all, he had been there. If you're there, shouldn't you be able to do something?

Daisuke thinks about this in his sleep, but in the wake of two tests, forgets about it the following morning.

* * *

He remembers hours after school, of course, when Wallace messages him that the whole thing was nothing to worry about. However, being childhood friends with Hikari-chan (and Jogressing with Ken) has given Daisuke the unique ability to know when that sort of statement is a bunch of crap. Therefore, with the spirit of the goggles in him, he knows what he has to do: help. The only problem is that right now he can't afford another ticket to America. Just to New York even. He probably couldn't get straight out to Colorado without seventy stops, eighteen baggage checks and something going wrong. At least those summer tickets have been courtesy of Mimi-san… oh duh.

Daisuke scribbles eagerly into his notebook. His parents probably think he's studying. Joke's on them, he did that three hours ago! Without Ken! They need to have more faith in him, seriously. (Then again, did he have faith in himself when it came to studying? Not really. He has never figured out the magic formula everyone else has.) Soon his plan, so epic when looked at from a distance, was roughly figured out. That said, he still is gonna need a lot of help. And he knows how to get it. His friends have never let him down before! He probably wouldn't even have to convince them either.

He presses _send_ one more time and waits.

Just before bed, he gets five resounding versions of 'yes' and 'what kind of friends do you think we are?' in various tones of formality.

Daisuke whoops (quietly) and punches the air. "Hey, Chibimon," he says. "What do you think about winter break in New York?"

"Will it be like that one summer break?" Chibimon asks from where he's fluffing a pillow he stole from Jun.

"Probably not." At least he hopes not. He doesn't need _that_ reminder to nearly kill his nerve.

Chibimon plants a flipper on one cheek. "Imma have to think about it."

"Don't be a spoilsport!"

* * *

Wallace is perfectly fine. Or, so he tells himself. It's another holiday, going on the sixth, without Chocomon, but on an upside, he's not running for his life or alone this year, so it's a step in the right direction. Terriermon counts, of course, but he always gets melancholy on these merry days. So neither of them are in a particularly festive mood.

However, Mimi-san had invited him to a party this weekend. There is no way that could go wrong at all, especially with Terriermon occupied by free food and him maybe finding if anyone knew anything about a Digivice upgrade. Life will be so much easier with less hitchhiking and ticket purchases.

First though, is taking care of this report on… the Industrial Revolution? Don't teachers get a hundred of these every year? He rubbed his head with a sigh. You'd think they'd switch topics after a while, but you couldn't get that lucky. Education systems, they never changed.

His D-Terminal beeps, almost in exact unison with Gumimon's humongous snore. Wallace tries not to laugh too loudly in his rummage for camera.. The flash wakes his partner but hey, it was worth it.

He goes to go send the picture around (he'd seen Mimi-san do it in recent years) and finds a cheerful message from Daisuke, saying what seems to be about hotels. What, is he somehow getting his butt to New York?

"You'd need at least six people to a room and none of you would have to hate each other," he replies, resisting the urge to say it aloud.

By the time he's come back, pasta and meat sauce cooling in a bowl, he can almost see the smug grin on Daisuke's face at the reply.

"Challenge accepted."

Wallace briefly considers throwing his D-Terminal at the wall in some sort of cathartic release, but it doesn't deserve that. He doesn't even want to ask.

"Probably shouldn't have sent that self-pity message."

"Shut up Gumimon. Eat your pasta."

"I want cheese," the blob said stubbornly. "And a fork."

Wallace shot him what was hopefully a withering look and replied in as flat of a tone as possible. "Gumimon, you don't have arms right now."

Gumimon grunts and just out of spite, evolves to his fluffy rabbit-dog self. "Fork!" His voice is petulant, as if to just prove Wallace's point.

Wallace rolls his eyes and goes to give his delightfully spoiled Digimon what he wants. Daisuke's trying to come out here, to one of the more expensive cities in the United States.

He tries to pretend his chest isn't as warm as a fireplace. He doesn't even know why it is.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ citrus-cactus! Happy Secret Santa/Merry Christmas. Don't worry, yours isn't that short. We'll have another five chapters to go! We're at least going to have Daisuke/Wallace (Meiko/Mimi too!), fluff, dorks, the whole works! I hope you enjoy it! Third version of the fic is a charm!

Challenges: Pairing Diversity Boot Camp prompt - spark, Chapter Set Boot Camp prompt - 6, Rare Pairs Challenge, Easter Egg Advent day 18, and Diversity WRiting Challenge H10.


	2. Chapter 2

_Heads up! (I don't really think I should have to warn about this but for the sake of no reviews complaining about grammatical things about this specifically: gender neutral character with gender neutral pronouns from this chapter on. This is not a typo, but if anyone can correct me on the usage of these words, they will be much appreciated. Also I haven't been to the specific airport mentioned in...about six years so I'm going off general memory of airports XD)_

* * *

 _II._

Mimi is well known for being able to amuse children.

Good with kids? Not necessarily. She is _fun_ , and children like that, but they need more than that, and as she is coming to realize, that is a bit more difficult than it sounds. Thankfully, after the summer of 2003 and the events of the years prior, it is getting just a tiny bit easier. Not that this was going to encourage her towards settling down with anyone anytime soon (her mother really needed to stop asking) but it is good that if she ever had to work with kids, it wasn't all down the toilet.

Goodness, that's a crass thought. She needs to get out of those as soon as possible. Otherwise she would get yelled at.

Well, even if she isn't good with kids in general, she i _s_ pretty decent with this one. Case in point, her close contact with the little kid who was now sitting on the back of her couch.

"You're not supposed to sit there," she sings as she puts her hands back into the fish batter for dinner. "Get down, Mickey."

She makes a face, but Mickey obediently lowers down on the cushions instead. Mimi grins to herself and plungs the fish in. It splashs onto the counter, making her laugh to herself. Mickey, watching her, makes a face out of the corner of xir eye. "It's just eggs," she tells them, earning a pout. "And flour, and bread. You're going to eat it. You've eaten everything else."

"Meh." Well, it isn't disagreement, so Mimi calls that one a win. They go back to playing the game, the pout seeping further into their face. "When's Nat coming home?"

Mimi isn't entirely certain if they means this apartment to be considered home, but the child's acceptance of it as such is enough to make her at least think about it being safe. That was good for people right? "When Meiko-chan gets in the airport and everyone gets to their hotel. She's the only other person who knows the way that's of age. Or looks it, anyway."

She didn't have to look to see Mickey sinking further into the cushions. "Aw. No fair."

"You're ten, Mick," Mimi says through more laughter. "Life's really not fair when you're ten."

Then again at ten she was watching friends die and trying to save two worlds so she knew exactly how unfair being ten could be. Though considering the state Nat was in when the two of them were brought together, it would only make sense for them to be worried. A child needed to have faith in their partner though. They lived on faith and potato chips. (Palmon would say mostly potato chips.) But saying that wouldn't work out that well.

Mick's huff of annoyance indicates xie doesn't expect her to either. Xie went quiet and huffy and before she knew it, Mimi is able to her the sound of video game battling noises.

Mimi giggles to herself. She could almost hear her mother now. Too bad. It iss never going to happen.

Her cell phone vibrates and she wipes her hands and turns on speaker. "Meiko-chan! What's going on?"

* * *

Meiko doesn't know Motomiya Daisuke and his friends well. She knows Takeru-kun and Hikari-chan of course, but that is a given, after all they had been through together. It isn't the same thing as actually being constantly around them, but once you saw someone nearly naked at an onsen once, it well… it certainly changed things.

Still, the only one who was remotely recognizable to her by name outside of those two was Ichijouji Ken, the old prodigy. Not that she will mention that, but well, it is an unfortunate thing to know someone by.

This reasoning is why Daisuke's cheerful waving and shouting her name and other things in heavily accented English nearly makes her jump out of her skin and into the high sloped ceiling of the JFK airport gate. Meicoomonisn't much better, fur fluffing up to a point that Meiko has to discreetly check her partner's eyes. Nothing, of course, not anymore. But _still._

If Daisuke notices, he doesn't really say anything, merely beams at the two of them as he bounds over. "It's been a while!" At Meiko's wide-eyed stare, he huffs in what could be defeat, eyes widening like a puppy. "You don't remember me? At all!"

"Of course she does, Daisuke-kun, calm down." Takeru is smiling underneath the brim of one of his many… _eccentric_ choices of hats. Perhaps it is Mimi-san's influence, but Meiko has to bite her tongue to keep the comment to herself. "You're quite hard to forget."

Ken chuckles into his shirt collar, even as Daisuke makes an amused face of disbelief.

"That so?" He grins a bit wider and his chest puffs out. "Well, of course! One taste of my ramen leaves a good impression, you know?"

"Righttttt."

Meiko giggles, the line of her shoulders sloping down. Slowly, Meicoomon's hair begins to fall back down as she squirms with discomfort. "Meiii~" she whines. Meiko picks her up. She's spoiled her cat a bit much.

"It's okay," she tells her partner, who settles back into her grip. She loops about and the winces, suddenly realizing it was a little too quiet. "Oh no, I think we lost Nat-chan again..." Her Japanese comes out slowly, a product of being here in America for almost three years. Still better than the looks Daisuke-kun himself had been getting.

Daisuke, to her surprise, perks up. "Nat-chan? She's here!" His grin grows even wider, if that was possible. "Hey, Chibimon, did ya hear that?"

His bag squirms and only now did she notice that only Tailmon was within view. Even the most of a visible Patamon is the giant bat ear-wings poking in and out. Tailmon made a face.

"The flight attendants gave us all quite a few rude looks," she explains,voice low and eyes and ears darting at passerby. She probably expects them to hiss at her. To be fair, Meiko herself expects it too. TSA agents had inspected her a little too closely on her way to arrivals… and now she had lost Nat-chan… ooh darn it.

"Well, I mean..." Meiko tries to find a way to say this that wouldn't make her Mei-chan sulk. "The events of the reboot… they really weren't that long ago… people are probably still feeling rather bitter about the whole thing… it was a lot of damage."

"Like world wars don't cause damage," Miyako mutters (She thinks it's Miyako. It's sounds like the description Mimi-san gave her earlier.) under her breath before waving a hand with a too quick grin. "Come on Meiko-senpai, where are we going?"

Meiko fidgets. "Well, we need to find Nat-chan first… I gave her the details so she _wouldn't_ run off and get into trouble." She sighs. "I guess that plan failed."

Daisuke beams, clearly too excitable for common sense. "No worries, we'll find her." He punches the air. "I'll know her voice anywhere!"

"Mostly 'cause Daisuke was desperate for a date."

Daisuke reachs into his bag and the whole area is treated to the loud sounds of what is a dolphin-dragon squeaking in amused terror and pain. The group laughs.

"I should have known," said a deadpan voice from a nearby gift stall as the noise dies down. "Only Daisuke would make so much noise in a public area." Meiko turns and smiles in relief at Wallace. Well at least he had found a parking space in time.

Daisuke's hand shot out of his bag to wave in Wallace's direction. "Surprise!"

Wallace raised an eyebrow. "I really thought you were joking."

"Daisuke is always serious about these kinds of things." Ken steps forward and offers his hand with a solemn sort of smile. "It's what makes him so endearing. Ichijouji Ken, nice to meet you."

"And annoying," Wallace counters, freeing up one of his hands from the small child hitched on his shoulder. "Wallace Pence. Nice to meet you too. I've heard a ton."

"Same about you. He went on for a good chunk of the flight" Ken glances the child up and down, who is staring at Daisuke with a look that Ken knew very well as 'I'm gonna tackle you into a fence' from most puppies. "And this is-?"

Daisuke bounds over to her and grabs her tiny hand. "Nat-chan!"

For a moment, the little girl's face remains puzzled in disbelief. Then she vibrates in place. "Daisuke!" Wallace lets go to let her fly forward. "See! I did it! I did!"

"You did!" Daisuke grins, lifting his eyes up to Wallace. "Thanks for your help!"

For some reason, Wallace looks away, scratching his neck. "Yeah… don't mention it."

Meiko frowns. Now what was _that_ all about?

Hikari, however, looks v _ery smug._


	3. Chapter 3

_III._

Their time together wasn't very long, but it was enough for every one of the Japanese Chosen to recognize at least two things. The first was that Wallace and Daisuke needed to have a nice talk it out. The second was that that little girl was a Digimon and whatever that story was, nobody was going to get it out of anyone willingly.

And that was fine. Everyone had secrets.

For now though, all things had to happen tomorrow, as jetlag and a late hour were awful to anyone, but Daisuke was drooping and nearly dropping said small child, which was never a good sign. Hence why Nat wriggled away and went back to a perfectly awake Wallace. Wallace then took great pleasure on waking them up every time the train stopped, just to teach them proper New York paranoia. It eventually stops working on Iori, who is younger and therefore not stubborn enough to listen every time someone tries to deny his body what it needs.

So they get them to their destination and Wallace thinks about heading back. He thinks it for a few seconds, at least long enough for Hikari to level him with a worried stare. Clearly she's heard about the situation if not guessed it, and is probably super worried about him walking to his place in the dark. Normally, he'd back out, but she keeps _looking_ at him. His partner is smirking from his usual shoulder perch, ever amused by this for whatever reason. Probably just because he's Terriermon more than likely and finds amusement in watching his best friend squirm.

Nat sits happily in his lap, though her eyes flicker towards Daisuke every minute or so. Up until his eyes shut entirely he smiles back. It's a bit of a half-hearted gesture, seeing as he looks like those fan inflated dolls' that the put outside of car dealerships. Thankfully he was too short to be one.

Nat shrinks back with concern until she sees Daisuke yawn. Then she laughs too freely, like the air has uncoiled from inside of her lungs.

Meiko smiles a little, expression haunted by her own discomfort.

Wallace realizes he really will have to stay. Surely that is better than leaving poor Meiko-chan and her guilt complex to deal with the lot of them.

* * *

The hotel room is warm and softly colored. Even the normally uncomfortable sofas are easy to slump into. Which he does almost immediately. He has no parents to call, only Mimi to text. She swears up and down that crepes are on the dinner menu and he's inclined to believe her. He's just not entirely sure what those crepes will have _in them._ She worries him sometimes. She may know how to cook, but she sure doesn't do it in a way that's sane that's for sure.

Watch her get famous for it. He'll laugh.

Meiko leaves after everyone settles in, leaves for personal reasons and because unlike him, she'll tell Mimi that he's all right. Such a goody goody. He doesn't deserve her as a friend, but he's got her.

Terriermon gives a pointed yawn against his ear. He settles obediently down on the futon, next to Daisuke, who offers him the part of the too-large blanket he and Ken are sharing. He twitches a bit. Then he gives in because how do you ignore Motomiya Daisuke's whims? Answer: you don't. Not on pain of endless needling at least.

So he subsided, leaning against the dark back and pretending he wasn't suddenly in a sauna. That wasn't about him, nope. Still, it was nice. The surprising, quiet chatter was very soothing.

He found Daisuke shaking him hours later and even in the dark, he could see the whites of the other young man's eyes. "What," he grumbles as quietly as possible.

Daisuke makes a face. "Nat-chan. She's not here."

Wallace yawns. "She goes out a lot. Don't worry about it. Mimi-san and I made sure to teach he-"

Boom.

The entire hotel's foundation proceeded to tremble, startling everyone awake. Miyako blurts out something that is probably a curse word but Wallace's Japanese wasn't that in-depth so he isn't sure.

"Okay," he says. "Maybe we should be worried. Terriermon?"

"Yah." His partner agrees and when there's no resounding second response, Wallace feels his heart clench.

"Let's go," he adds instead and takes off. Daisuke is half a step behind him, grumbling about how he'll be lost without him and that's probably true.

He isn't sure what's more important, finding Nat-chan or figuring out just what exploded and where. Realistically, it's the latter, but Nat-chan's always been so close.

Mimi sends about four messages of an explanation, along with 'if you don't get Nat-chan down to Mickey asap, we're going to have a problem,' in emojis. Mimi-san, why. He almost wished he couldn't translate her.

"Meiko-chan," he says, hearing her quick footsteps and Meicoomon's jumping about. "Can you get Mimi-san? We'll meet with you."

"Of course!" It's that solid bravery that makes him grin and almost feel good, especially with everyone else catching up in a 'we're chosen ones who get exercise' fashion. This is what power and success feel like, he imagines. It's hard to believe that would even exist for someone like him. But it must or he'd be dead by now.

If only Chocomon could see it too…

He shuts his eyes and opens them. He can't think of Chocomon right now. He has to go forward.

His chest throbs in retaliation, as if that's nothing but a silly joke. Willis hesitates and then Daisuke knocks him down as something goes flying overhead. "Chibimon!" they both shout and the little blue dolphin happily evolves to punch something in the face. Or headbutt it. Wallace is pretty sure it's either one.

"Nice shot!" Daisuke grabs his partner round the neck in what's nearly a choke hold. V-mon does not seem to care, for once. Hed care later probably. For now they're just running full tilt and Wallace can't help but feel like he's on Lighdramon again and they're running through fields to the end of Colorado, to the beginning of everything. He almost thinks he can see it.

Blinking tears away and moving away Terriermon's oversized ears, Wallace realizes that's exactly what he's seeing.

All around them are familiar golden flowers, green leaves and soft summer afternoon skies and then it sharply cuts into winter

"Chocomon?" He wonders out loud.

Daisuke glances at him and the air rumbles. Then little Nat-chan goes careening past, running on paws instead of bare human feet. She leaps from one spot to the next. She doesn't seem to notice them. But then, Mickey must be around. Which means Mimi-san is around.

The world wavers from bright and warm to the chilly snap of New York winter. Nat skids to halt beside them.

"Hurry!" she barks.

Daisuke laughs. "Man listen to her sound all commanding. Who'd have thought?" He sobers and it's both unnerving and strangely endearing. "You okay?"

Wallace grips his small Digivice. Then he blurts out, "You're here to help. I feel fine."

He's very glad he can't see Daisuke's face right now. His awkward response of silence makes him able to focus on the heat in his face that isn't the result of the cold.

"Uh… thanks."

He thinks he's embarrassed Daisuke. Who'd have thought?

Then Daisuke spoke up, "Wait, what did you mean-"

"Later!" Wallace feels Terriermon finally hop off. "We'll talk about it later."

Daisuke blinks, brown eyes filled with something murky and disquieting."Ah, all right." He shrugs. "Whatever helps man!"

Because Wallace himself has _no idea._

* * *

 ** _A/N:_** It lives! And I discover the folly of trying to put this into six chapters but I will do it! Thanks again for your support cirrus! I'm still going, I promise! Let's keep it moving!


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